Cracks in the Pyramid
by Radafa
Summary: Post Pyramid: Tony is struggling to catch the leak on his own and recruits Ziva to help him. Can they work together without the rest of the team or Vance noticing? Tiva work in progress, once EJ and Ray get the boot.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Alright, it seems like I am going to be joining the multitude of fics that will spring up from the finally over the break. This does not really have much direction so we'll see where this goes, there will be more Tiva than is probably appropriate with EJ and Ray around. **

2 Months post "Pyramid"

It had been a long day in the bull pen. They had not had a new case in a week only had paper work to occupy their time. McGee was typing quietly, his stack of files showed that he was almost done. Tony was frowning at his computer and had barely moved for an hour.

All Ziva wanted to do was go home. She looked over at Tony, his focus was bothering her. She wanted to throw something at him, being so quite was not right. Not when she was so bored anyways. Tony had been distant for a while now, arriving before her at work and overall more quite. Everything had been quieter since Franks had died. The team is still in mourning she thought.

She checked her email, still nothing from Ray. She checked the clock, still not time to go home. She let out a sigh and went back to the file she had on her desk... how many shots had she fired at that guy again? She closed her eyes to go over the shoot out in her mind.

oOoOo

She heard something coming towards her head at a high speed. Ziva rolled offer her chair, dodging the object and drawing her gun, pointing it at the source... Tony. Who else would it be?

"Whoa! I totally thought I had her that time Probie!"

"I told you it wouldn't work Tony," replied McGee.

"Awe, come on! She was asleep for like 20 minutes!" Tony turned to Ziva, "Put it away Probette, unless you're going for your first desk pop! Wait I doubt it would be your first," said Tony with a cheeky grin.

"What is a desk pop?" asked Ziva as she got up and reholstered her sidearm in her boot with a smile, Tony was acting more like Tony.

"Will Farrell, 2010? The Other Guys? Come on! You've been a citizen that long!" Tony exclaimed in exasperation, he checked around the office and waived Ziva over, "Come over here and check it out, you too Probie."

Ziva and McGee also did a Gibbs check and went behind Tony's desk.

"What is wrong with your screen?" asked Ziva, who could not see the display properly.

"Just move so you have a straight view. When did you get a privacy filter Tony?" asked McGee. Ziva moved so she was looking over Tony's shoulder as he typed "desk pop" in to the youtube search engine.

"Just an extra precaution in case of Gibbs, it will you know, give me a few seconds to close things down," said Tony as he clicked on the first link on the search list.

"I'm surprised that you didn't think of that sooner Tony, now Gibbs won't interrupt you next time you try to break your high score in Tetris," teased McGee.

"Don't mock me McGoo, this is clearly for security reasons!"

"Security reasons like pornography?" Ziva asked with a smirk.

"Why do you want to join me David?" Tony teased back. They were looking directly in her eyes until McGee interrupted them with a cough. They snapped their heads to the screen, the video had started. They all laughed at the desk pop and how easily Farrell's character was tricked.

"Let's make our next Probie do a desk pop," said Tony with a smile.

"But think of all the paperwork it would cause," McGee reminded him.

"Huh, you're right, not to mention that it would probably mean that one of us has left the team."

"Do you want to leave the team DiNozzo?"

McGee and Ziva lunged back to their desks and Tony quickly closed the web browser to show the document he had been working on, "No Boss, just um showing Ziva how maneuver is not spelled with an 'o,'" he turned to Ziva, "Come on, you're an American! Not a Canadian and definitely not a Birit!"

Ziva gave him an annoyed look, but played along, "It is not my fault that I was taught English using British spelling!"

Gibbs rolled his eyes and sat down at his desk. Tony mouthed "Thanks" to Ziva and pointed at his computer and gave her the thumbs up and a big smile. The privacy screen had worked perfectly. Ziva rolled her eyes at him again with exaggeration and got back to work.

About 15 minutes later, Gibbs looked at the clock and sent them home. Not needing to be told twice, they gathered up their backpack and started to head out. The three stood in the elevator, McGee mumbled something about Abby and got out at Abby's lab, leaving Ziva and Tony alone.

"So, what are you doing tonight Ziva?" Tony asked.

"Just sleeping, how about you?" Ziva replied.

"Want to go out for a drink?"

"No, not really, remember what happened last time?"

"As if that could happen twice, I really think that you should come out for a drink with me."

"You ignore everyone for over a month and then decide that you want to go out, on a Tuesday? I am not interested tonight."

Tony stopped the elevator and turned to her, "You don't understand. You _need_ to come out with me. I _need_ to talk with you."

"What is so important?" she asked in irritation, she was glad that he was acting more like himself before but she was too tired to deal with him right now, she just wanted to go home.

"Do you have my back?" he asked seriously.

Shocked by the question she replied, "What have you done? Are you in trouble?"

"Do you have my back?" he asked again looking her straight in the eyes.

For her there was really only one answer, "Always."

"Meet me at our usual place in half an hour. Get a booth if you get there first," he glanced at his watch nervously. This conversation was taking too long.

His seriousness and agitation put her on edge, "Tony what is this about?"

"There is _absolutely_ nothing abnormal about two friends going out for drinks together right?" Tony asked in the same serious tone, still maintaining eye contact. Ziva nodded in understanding, this cannot be discussed here, and act as if everything is normal. In response to her nod, he flicked the elevator back on and they stood in silence until the doors opened and headed to their cars in silence.

oOoOo

Ziva entered the bar. She had stopped at home to change out of her work cloths but had not dressed up either. She spotted Tony in a booth at the back and waved, he nodded with a smile. Tony looked tense and serious. She ordered a club soda and headed over to Tony's booth.

"Good to see you Ziva," Tony greeted her.

"Yes, it is nice to have a break after work," she replied, might as well start with small talk.

"I hate paper work," Tony was looking down making patterns with the condensation from his glass.

"Does that mean you want someone to die?" Ziva teased.

Tony looked up and gave her a grin, "Are you offering to do a job?"

"I'm retired from that and unless you make much more than I do, you cannot afford it," Ziva teased back, she had missed this.

"I am _Senior Field Agent_, Probette," Tony smirked and Ziva's brow twitched in irritation, he loved to get a rise out of her.

She was about to remind him that she could kill him easily when her drink arrived. She thanked the server and did a quick, covert look around the room as he walked away. Still no one in the booths on either side of theirs, background music should be covering most of their conversation. She placed her outside elbow on the table and her chin on her fist, obscuring attempts at lip reading from the side. If Tony was taking this seriously, so was she, "Alright Tony, what is going on?"

He leaned forward, "It's happened again"

"What is happened again?" she asked softly.

"The administration is using me," Tony replied sadly.

Ziva's eyes widened with worry, "The director is sending you undercover?"

Tony flicked his eyes across the room and then reached into his jacket pocket and returned his gaze to her eyes, "No, higher and not cover exactly."

"Higher?" Ziva asked. Tony passed her the item from his pocket under the table. She looked down, it was a Challenge Coin, from the SecNav, "Oh."

She passed the coin back under the table, Tony held her hand for a moment. "We're working on a leaking ship," he said softly.

"Again?" Ziva asked, taking her hand back, reminding herself that she should not enjoy the warmth of his hand. "And you're investigating it on your own?"

"Almost," Tony replied.

"Why are you telling me?"

"Remember what happened last time?" he asked, her eyes screamed of course she did. "I will not be used again. I need someone to know who cares about me, not just the mission and to have my back." Ziva nodded in understanding, they should have not trusted Jenny as much as they had. There was no way they were going to trust Vance and a SecNav they just met.

"I wanted to tell you sooner. I have to investigate almost everyone," Tony said sadly, "It took me this long to clear you completely."

"Two months to investigate one person?" Ziva asked surprised, this must have been a detailed search.

"First I had to set things up. I'm doing this by myself, at night, you have not been here for long but we have covered a lot of cases, you have seen a lot and you were a foreign operative," he explained.

"You had to clear me first?" Ziva asked, how could he think she was the leak?

Tony sensed her insecurity, "Look, if anyone finds out that you know, I want there to be proof that you are not the leak. This protects both of us."

Ziva nodded, he's protective and trusting, a good partner, but there is another member of their team, "Will you bring in McGee... or EJ?"

"Rule number 4," he replied, "I wish I could, but they're on the list. I would need to clear them. Anyways, McMouthy would tell Abby or put it in his book or something. Honestly, I trust you to keep this quiet more than him. Both Vance and the SecNav would have more than my badge if they knew I told anyone. I'm going against specific orders."

"But what about Gibbs?" she asked, keeping something like this from Gibbs was a bad idea.

"I don't think I can tell him but he might kill me for not," Tony replied, tracing patterns on the table again.

Ziva nodded understanding his predicament, "If Gibbs knew, tension between him and Vance would go through the ceiling."

"Through the roof," he corrected her, a smile returning to his face.

A couple of men went by their booth to sit at the one behind Ziva. The subject needed to change.

Ziva looked at him with annoyance and started jesturing, "But a ceiling is inside and a roof is outside. It would explode from the inside since that is where the people are. So they would be going through the ceiling, unless they were on the roof or perhaps the space in between the roof and the ceiling."

"You are way over thinking this, it's just a saying," he said shaking his head. "I have missed this. Keeping this from the team has been terrible," he added softly.

"I have missed you being you. I am glad you have told me, but what do you want me to do?" she asked equally quietly, the people behind them were ignoring them so it was probably alright but they needed to get to the end of this.

"I might need to disappear once and a while, during office hours. I might need you to cover for me, help me bounce ideas around and I need your advice," he said, his eyes were pleading and lonely.

"Cover and campfires? Sure, I have your back," she answered and placed her hand over his on the table, this was really a no brainer. "What kind of advice do you need?"

"Thanks Ziva," he replied with relief, they stared at their over lapped hands for a moment and slowly removed them.

"I have one contact. The leak was found when local leos caught him jacking a car. They searched him and found a memory stick on him with classified files, it was quietly handed over to the SecNav," Tony explained.

Ziva nodded, that is not much of a start, "Does he know much?"

"Not really," Tony replied with a sigh. "He's just a currier and not a bright one. All he knows is his pick up and drop points. But we flipped him, and put him back out to be our mole. It was that or win an all expenses paid trip to Gitmo for espionage and terrorism. I'm his handler," he ended with a smile.

"Have you ever been a handler or control officer?" Ziva asked, intrigued by the scenario.

"No. But I know you have. This guy is part of this but he doesn't know what's going on. I don't trust him not to give himself away if he asks questions, but unless he gives me something he's useless," Tony said in frustration.

Ziva nodded in understanding, she had been in charge of moles that were dumb enough to get caught and turned were often too dumb to be of much use, "Does he trust you?"

"I'm working on it."

Trust with criminal informants was always difficult. Sometimes she itched to just kill them. She curled her fingers thinking about it. That was not her style anymore, but the main concepts were the same, "Does he fear you?"

"How do I mix trust and fear?" Tony asked in return.

"It is possible, how do you feel about Gibbs?" she asked with a teasing smile, "We will need to talk mices and make you a plan to make him yours. Then you must train him."

"Mices? The plural of mouse is mice Ziva, what do mice have to do with anything?" Tony aske in confusion.

"I am talking motivation, not vermin."

Another party entered the bar and sat at the booth on the other side, now they were surrounded. The bar was filling up, making it less likely to be over heard but there were also more people to notice them talking secretively.

Ziva checked her watch, "We should get going."

"I have more to tell you, lunch tomorrow?" he asked, getting up from the booth.

"If we can find some privacy," she reminded him, also getting up and shrugging on her coat. Just because she knows does not mean he needs to be any less careful, if Tony is investigating everyone, anyone could cause a problem.

"I can think of plenty of places at work where there's lots of privacy," Tony replied a smirk back on his face.

"In your wildest dreams DiNozzo," Ziva laughed and batted his arm as they left the bar.

Ziva got to her car and waved good night to Tony. She was glad that he told her why he had been acting oddly. But now she had to get home to check her email, Ray sent them like clockwork. Why did she feel guilty about her reply being a little late tonight?

**AN2: So... continue? I am starting to have a plot in my mind, but any suggestions? I am working on another story that has a lot of plot work done, but this is what was coming out. **


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I have decided to continue with this story and I have the basic plot worked out :)**

**Thank you so much to everyone who read, reviewed, or subscribed to the first chapter. I have to warn you though; updates might be a little spotty until school is over. Being a grad student stinks.**

**Another thing you should know is that I don't think that Tony would be able to simply tackle finding the leak. He will need to balance his secret case with current cases. So there will almost always be other cases going on in the background.**

**Disclaimer: NCIS ≠ mine**

Chapter 2

Tony tried to hide the shiver go downing his spine. He glanced up at the cat walk, Vance was watching him again. He quickly shot his eyes back down to his computer screen, best to pretend to work when the Director was watching. He felt like a kid back in boarding school, in trouble and being watched by the principal. Not that he had done anything wrong. Vance had given him this case but felt the need to supervise in the most unnerving way possible. The clock in the corner of the screen read 0650 hours, he's been at it since 0500. At least it meant that the rest of the team was going to show up soon.

As if on cue, the elevator pinged and Ziva and McGee walked out. Finally, he had some company. Tony quickly saved and exited the file he had been working on. The secret life of Agent Graydon would have to wait for later.

"He's here early again," said McGee as he and Ziva walked towards their desks, "Do you think we need to talk to him about it?"

"No I do not think it is serious this time," Ziva replied, dismissing McGee's suspicion. Tony was pleased, that after their conversation the night before Ziva was not fuelling McNosey's questions.

"He's doing this for a few weeks, it's not normal," McGee continued, clearly curious about Tony's strange behaviour. McGee stopped before rounding the corner to enter the bull pen and looked at Ziva for confirmation that this was strange.

"He had a sense of humour yesterday and was behaving like himself. We have all been a little quite lately," Ziva tried to calm McGee with some partial truth, "Perhaps he is just getting some work done or banking hours for something."

"I doubt he got much done yesterday," McGee conceded, but not completely thrown off his curiosity, "But, it's been weeks of him showing up early!"

"Hey! I can hear you McSlacker!" Tony chimed in, as they were almost beside his desk. Apparently diverting McGee was a two man job, "Anyways, Ziva was the one who fell asleep yesterday!"

"I was resting my eyes!" Ziva defended herself.

"For thirty minutes?" McGee replied, raising his eyebrows.

Tony smiled, McNosy diverted. Now to completely deflect the conversation, "You were the one IMing Abby all afternoon McChatty!"

"We were discussing important issues about our last case," McGee replied, now on the defensive.

"You mean how to program your computer to find you a date?" Tony asked. Teasing McInsecure was so easy.

"Things are going fine with Max!" McGee exclaimed. Tony smirked, McOblivious had not even realized that the conversation had been completely flipped on him.

Ziva gave Tony a conspiratorial smile, she saw what was going on and turned to McGee, "That was a little defensive McGee, are you sure everything is alright?"

"I said things are fine!" McGee shouted while starting to blush.

"Did you need Abby's advice on how to get your red key into Max's red door?" Tony asked, getting in one more needle. McGee turned a deeper shade of red and sat at his desk, turning away from his tormenters. Ziva gave Tony a questioning look, clearly not understanding the reference. Tony decided that McGee had had enough so he explained to Ziva, "It's a video game reference."

"You said it like a dirty joke," she replied as she put her backpack down.

"Well, it was that too. Key," he said with a big grin and held up one finger, "door," he continued and made a hole with his other hand and inserted the one finger into the hole made by his other hand.

Ziva gave him an irritated look and rolled her eyes, "I did not need a demonstration."

"I could d-" Tony started.

"Need a demonstration on how to work? Gear up, got a dead Seaman," Gibbs interrupted as he walked through the bullpen, coffee in hand.

The team grabbed their backpacks and headed towards the elevator. McGee raced ahead, wanting to get away from his team mates.

"Think we will make lunch?" Ziva quietly asked Tony.

"Who knows," he replied, you never know what might happen with a new case.

oOoOo

The body was at the bottom of a shallow ditch on the side of the road. Gibbs barked out his orders and everyone went to work. McGee checked the victim's ID with his scanner.

"It's a Seaman Travis Mackenzie, his ship just got in last week. Confirms the ID given to us by the girlfriend," McGee said to Gibbs.

"I don't think we need to wait for Ducky for cause of death Boss," said Tony who was happily snapping photos of the body, "Gunshot wound to the head is rather obvious."

"When did you get your degree DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, "Don't call it until Duck confirms."

"Whatever you say Boss," Tony replied, still snapping photos. He did a quick look over to Ziva who was interviewing the hysterical, pregnant girlfriend who called the body in the police who called it into NCIS. He took a quick photo. She didn't look comfortable but was starting to calm the woman down. Ziva had some empathy to work with in this situation. Not that he liked to think about that history or that empathy was Ziva's strong suite, but she was getting better at it.

Ducky and Palmer arrived and confirmed that the likely cause of death was the gunshot to the head. It looked like Mackenzie had been shot at the top of the ditch and rolled down. Ducky and Palmer prepared the body to be moved to autopsy. McGee completed bagging and tagging and Tony took all the necessary photos with a few extra. They stood by the tuck and waited for Ziva who was finishing up with the girlfriend.

McGee checked his watch, "Looks like we've missed lunch. Let's grab something on the way back, how about tacos?"

"Sure," Tony replied, still watching Ziva. They were going to miss their lunch date. There was no way they could discuss the mole with McTaco there. This case could set back his own investigation, which would mean more time with Vance breathing down his neck.

Ziva finally finished with the girlfriend and walked over to Tony and McGee, looking tiered although it was only mid afternoon.

"How'd it go?" Tony asked, concerned.

"Yha Ziva, that took forever," McGee added.

Ziva sighed, "She was very upset, and it took almost an hour to calm her down enough to get anything coherent. Do you want the whole story or do you want to hear it when I tell Gibbs?"

"Anything useful?" Tony asked as they got into the truck. Emotional drain was not surprising.

"Not really, she was too upset for anything helpful. I got her to call a friend to stay with for now. I have the contact information for both of them. This stress could not be good for her or her baby," Ziva briefly explained as Tony pulled out.

"That's rough, think she did it?" Tony asked.

"No, but I did do GSR swabs," Ziva replied.

"So, are you up for tacos?" McGee asked from the back.

"Sure," she replied, glancing at Tony. They were not going to be able to talk yet. Tony gave a little shrug in response. It wasn't like they could help it.

oOoOo

They arrived back at the Navy Yard and got to work researching the life of Seaman Travis Mackenzie.

The team was working at their desks when Tony's head popped up, "I just solved the case! That pregnant women was Mackenzie's girlfriend and he was the baby daddy right?"

"That is what she told me," Ziva replied.

"Let's hear it DiNozzo," Gibbs ordered.

Tony clicked a button and a dark haired woman appeared on the screen, "Meet Kristen Mackenzie, formerly Milton, married to our Seaman Mackenzie for just over a year. Wait that's not all," he clicked the button again a birth announcement from a local news paper popped up, "And meet now seven month old Darren Mackenzie. The wife did it."

"His financials show that it would be almost impossible for Mackenzie to support two children," McGee added looking at the financials he had been going over.

"The wife did it," Tony repeated.

"He seems like scum, I would not blame her," Ziva said with distaste.

"Go talk to her, take Ziva with you. Play nice until there's actual proof," said Gibbs as he walked out, "I'm going for coffee."

Tony and Ziva exchanged smiles, grabbed their guns and bags and headed for the elevator.

"I didn't think that we would get a chance to talk today," said Tony once the elevator doors closed and they were finally free to talk.

"I know, I think this is the first time I have been irritated that a case came up," Ziva said lightly as she snatched the keys from Tony's hands, "I will drive while you take notes."

Tony looked at her smiling face in shock, "How can I take notes if I'm throwing up and should this really be on paper?"

"Fine," Ziva replied and dropped the keys into his out stretched hand.

oOoOo

"So where do you want to start?" Tony asked as he drove out of the Navy yard.

"Tell me more about the case in general," Ziva replied. More information was a reasonable request. They had not been able to go over everything the night before.

"Well, some of the intel being taken is available to most NCIS agents but there are also some sensitive stuff that's been snuck out on memory stick," Tony explained. There really was not all that much on that end of the case so far.

"So everyone on the list has access to the stolen information?" Ziva asked.

Tony nodded, "Or could if they tried hard enough, McHacker could get most of it through the computer system and I'm sure with your ninja skills if you could if you really wanted to." That stupid list probably had half of NCIS on it and some people were easier to clear than others.

Ziva paused to think about it then asked, "How does your contact figure into all of this?"

"As I said before, he's just a currier," Tony reminded her, "They do dead drops. He has no idea who leaves the data for him or who picks it up after him." In other words the guy had no idea what was going on until he was caught jacking that car.

"You could not catch anyone on either end of the delivery?" Ziva asked. If only it had been that easy.

"No," Tony shook his head, the drop had been too well planned for that. "The data was there as soon as he got the call."

"Untraceable?" Ziva asked the obvious question.

"Of course," Tony replied. It seemed like almost no one actually had a regular cell phone these days.

"The other end?"

As if it could ever be that simple, "I have been involved for only one exchange. The bastard entered and left the bathroom through a window," Tony said with frustration. Seriously, he should have been able to catch the guy. If only he had waited somewhere else and photographed people coming and going from the outside of the coffee shop, then he would have noticed the guy slipping into the alleyway for sure.

"You could have used some backup," Ziva said eyeing him with concern.

Yha, he would have had her backing him up in a second but Anthony DiNozzo did not have that luck, "No, Vance would have my head and yours. He's made that very clear."

Ziva snorted, "Well then being a lookout could be something to teach your contact. But I should be the one to have your back."

"Trust me, I would much rather have you than this guy. I need to get him to trust me before I teach him anything and I don't know if I can trust him when I do," Tony said sadly, this situation sucked.

"This is too awkward. We need to give your contact a code name," Ziva said as she changed the subject. Tony smiled in response, code names are cool!

"Code names are not for fun like in your movies," Ziva reminded him.

Tony looked at her and asked, "Did you have a code name?"

"Several."

"What were they?" Tony pried, she had to have had some good ones.

"This has nothing to do with your case," Ziva replied with irritation.

Tony gave her a big DiNozzo smile, "Come on, it can't be that bad."

"Fine, Judith," Ziva said as her face started to turn a little red.

Tony laughed, "How is that embarrassing?" The smile works every time but the blush was a little unexpected.

"It is more descriptive than anything," Ziva turned away to look out the window, there was a pause, "You do not know the story of Judith."

He shook his head no, this was going to be good.

"There are different interpretations but in the basic version she was a Jewish woman who saved her village by going into an enemy camp and cutting off the head their leader while he slept," Ziva said while still looking away.

That sounded like Ziva but there had to be more to it than that.

"And in the not so basic version?" he asked.

"She seduces him first," Ziva replied, her blush deepening a little more.

"I see, descriptive," Tony said laughing more. That definitely suited Ziva from everything he had heard about her time as an assassin.

"Anyways, what should we call your contact?" Ziva interrupted his laughter.

She can be such a task master sometimes. Back to work, kinda.

"Curly," he replied, a large smile still plastered on his face.

"Curly?" Ziva questioned, rising an eyebrow. Yep, back to business.

"You know, like the three stooges! If you ever met him, you would understand. Plus if anyone overhears us we can say we're talking about a dog!" Tony exclaimed. If he was going to give the guy a code name it was going to be a fun one.

Ziva glared at him for a moment then let it go, "Alright, so why did Curly agree to do these deliveries?"

"Money," Tony said simply as he stopped at a red light and could look at Ziva properly.

"So the usual, motivation can be broken down into five categories, MICES; money, ideology, coercion, excitement and sex," Ziva explained. She rarely went into lecture mode. It was kind of cute.

Tony smiled at the last one, "Let me guess your specialty."

"Yes there was that but my contacts were also terrified of me," Ziva said crossing her arms with a scowl. Sometimes she looked too cute to be terrifying.

"Sex and coercion? Neither of us is homosexual. I don't think I'll be able to control Curly with that," Tony laughed at the prospect.

She said gave him a mischievous grin, "Do not slap it until you have tried it."

"Knock it. Don't knock it 'till you've tried it," Tony corrected automatically until his mind caught up, "Wait does that mean... was there slap-"

Ziva interrupted him, "Do you have a budget? You could pay him off."

Someday he would get the truth out of her but alcohol might be in order. Tony took a moment to get his mind back on track and realized that the light had changed color, "Money did get him into this. I don't know if Vance will let me pay him more than Curly's already being paid, 200 a pop"

"That is very little in some circles, but a little low for what I would expect in America. How does Curly feel about betraying his country?" Ziva asked. Good question Miss America.

"Pissed," Tony replied with a nod, seeing where she was going with this.

Ziva smiled, "Push the ideology angle then. How was he hired for these deliveries?"

Tony thought for a moment, "He does odd jobs, hulls trash, does deliveries, that sort of thing. Plenty of people have his number. He leaves it at bars, for anyone who needs something done. He just got a phone call, went to pick up a delivery and got an envelope with instructions and some money inside instead of a person."

"I am sure this was not his first delivery that seemed criminal," Ziva assumed.

"Nah, it was unusual but not that too far off. He actually liked not being intimidated by the people he was delivering for," Tony explained. Who would have thought that this guy would prefer working with suspected terrorists than usual criminals?

Ziva raised an eyebrow at that, "So intimidation might not work on him. Does he have any skills you can use?"

"Not really," Tony replied, the guy seemed useless.

"Then we will have to train him to get you information along with being a lookout-" Ziva began but was interrupted when Tony slapped the steering wheel.

"The guy needs a job! That's how he got into this! Maybe I could pay him to do the training. It might not be as much as he's being paid in one shot but steady payment might get him on board. Steady might make him trust me!" Tony exclaimed. Things were starting to come together in his mind.

Ziva nodded in approval, "That makes sense to me. He would eventually be doing work for NCIS. Perhaps Vance will supply the funds. Mossad always gave us a good working budget."

Tony smiled, things were looking a lot better than they had yesterday. Bringing Ziva in on this had been a great idea, "I think this could work. Thanks for helping me."

"Do not worry about it, it was a good campfire," Ziva said with a smile as Tony pulled up to Mackenzie's address.

"Let's go ruin the wife's day," Tony said as he turned off the car. Time to get back to the current case.

"We cannot be sure she did it yet," Ziva reminded him, clearly irritated at his insistence.

"Cheating husband? The wife totally did it."

**A/N: That was much longer than I thought it would be. How do you like the case, should I include more case or less? Sorry that it took so long to get this up. I hope I can do better for the next chapter. Please leave me your thoughts :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews and alerts! It's amazing how good they are for self esteem!**

**Sorry for the long wait again. But my committee has my thesis now so I have a little more time :)**

**NCIS ≠ mine :(**

Chapter 3

Tony and Ziva stood on the curb outside of the Mackenzie home. They locked eyes and pumped their fists three times. Tony came up with rock and Ziva with scissors. Tony grinned and Ziva sighed in exaggerated frustration.

Tony pointed at Ziva, "You tell her," he said with a smirk.

Ziva sighed again as they turned the house and walked up the steps.

"You always go for the stabby option," Tony teased. Ziva punched him in the arm in response. This was not the time to be irritating her. Tony rubbed his arm and scrunched his face in mock pain. Ziva ignored him and rang the door bell, sometimes he was such a baby.

As soon as the door started to open, they put on their game faces, serious for Tony and concerned for Ziva. The door opened to show the dark haired woman from big screen.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked.

"Hello, Kristen Mackenzie?" Ziva asked, Mrs. Mackenzie nodded so Ziva showed her badge, "I am Special Agent David and this is my partner Special Agent DiNozzo, NCIS."

Her face fell in shock and opened the door wider to let them in, "NCIS? Did something happen to Travis!"

"It might be best if you sit," Tony suggested. Kristen led them to the living room and sat down hard in a chair beside a play pen.

"Tell me," she pleaded.

"I'm sorry to inform you that your husband was found dead this morning," Ziva said as gently as possible, she hated this part of the job, stupid stabby scissors.

"Travis? NO!" Kristen cried and started sobbing into her hands.

"We are very sorry for your loss," Ziva said. Great, now she is crying harder. What are the other niceties said during these situations- "Is there someone we can contact for you to be with during this difficult time?"

Ziva looked over at Tony who gave her a little nod. Ziva exhaled the breath that she did not realise she had been holding. She had not messed up.

Kristen's crying was soon joined by cries from the play pen. When Kristen did not immediately go to her son, Ziva went to pick him up. Kristen looked up in surprise as Ziva cuddled the baby and told him that he would be alright.

"He needs you and you need him," Ziva said kindly as she passed the baby to his mother.

Having her son in her arms calmed the distraught widow. In a few minutes she had composed herself to ask, "What happened?"

"It appears that he was murdered," Tony answered and asked, "When was the last time you saw your husband Mrs. Mackenzie?"

"Yesterday morning," she replied into her son's head then looked up, "I knew something was wrong."

"Did something happen that suggested your husband's life was in danger?" Ziva asked. If the wife did not do it, then she might know who did.

"He didn't call last night and when I called him I found his phone in the kitchen," Kristen croaked out. Apparently forgetting to call led to her premonition.

"We'll need to collect that. Was it unusual for him to forget his phone?" Tony asked, watching the widow's face closely.

"He did it every once in a while, but if he was out late, he usually called," Kristen replied again talking into her son's head.

"Where was he supposed to be last night?" Tony asked. That was the real question.

"He was working on the base during the day and then was going out with his friends, if he drinks too much he stays with one of them," Kristen answered honestly. Apparently she had no idea about the other woman.

"Do you have contact information for any of his friends he would have been out with last night?" Ziva asked. The 'friends' should know something, if they exist.

"I don't think so. They're probably in his phone," she said and rose to get the cell phone. Tony and Ziva followed her and Ziva got out an evidence bag for the phone.

Once Kristen dropped the phone into the bag and Ziva started to label it Tony asked, "Where were you this morning?"

"I was home with the baby," she answered as she balanced her son on her hip.

"Can anyone confirm that?" Tony asked. That sounded harsh, but they needed to know.

"I-I don't know," she answered, in shock that quickly turned to anger, "Are you suggesting that I had something to do with this?"

"We just need to cover our bases Mrs. Mackenzie," Ziva replied, trying to calm the now angry widow, "Theses are standard questions. Can you think of anyone that might have wanted to hurt your husband?"

This seemed to appease her. She took a moment to think and answered, "No, he always got along well with everyone."

"How well do you know his friends?" Tony asked. Almost all victims' families thought there was no motive for their murder. Really it showed that they did not know the victim. Or that they were lying.

"I-I didn't really know them at all... he would go drinking with them but I was pregnant and then with the baby... I never got the chance," she answered, slightly flustered. It looked like she had not really known her husband and was now realizing it.

"Thank you for answering our questions Mrs. Mackenzie. If you can think of anything else please give us a call," Tony said, there was not much more to ask right now, "We'll contact you if we have any more questions so please stay in the area." As in we might bring you into interrogation.

oOoOo

"What do you think?" Tony asked once they were back in the car.

"I do not think that she knows anything," Ziva replied as she flicked her phone closed.

"She was convincing but I'm not writing her off yet," Tony said and started up the car.

Ziva scoffed at him, "You just want to be right about the wife."

"Women get irrational, get jealous and go crazy," Tony shot back.

In a flash, Ziva flicked out a knife and held it to Tony's neck.

"Pardon me?" she asked in a threatening tone.

"Whoa! Not helping your case," Tony chocked out.

Ziva realized what she was doing and sheathed the knife but continued glaring at him and grumbled, "Not all women are irrational, jealous or crazy."

"But you are definitely crazy," Tony said as he massaged his throat and pulled out onto the street.

Ziva's eyes flashed in anger but kept quite.

oOoOo

"Sorry," Ziva apologized after a few minutes of silence.

"Rule 6," Tony replied, "You haven't taken a knife to my throat in years. What's going on?"

"Why do you think all women are crazy?" Ziva asked in return.

"Women always interpret things the wrong way," Tony said with a sigh.

"Do you think I am crazy?" Ziva asked, looking down at her hands.

"Well when you have a knife to my throat," Tony replied and after a pause continued, "I don't think you're certifiable. You're... different anyone who has experienced half of what you have would be," he took his eyes off the road to look at her sad face, "Hey, you passed your psych eval in February. You're doing alright. Just keep it in your pants okay?"

Ziva smirked at that, "Thanks Tony."

oOoOo

After another period of silence, Tony said, "You know, you did good back there. You handled the baby well."

"It was not a big deal," Ziva replied. She would much rather deal with a baby than another hysterical women.

"Did better than I could," Tony said with a grin. DiNozzo with a baby, it would either be a disaster or amazing. Someday, the right childern will appriciate DiNozzo goofyness.

"Do not sell yourself little," Ziva told him with a small smile.

"Short, don't sell yourself short," Tony replied then changed the subject, "I think Probie collected a cell phone off the body this morning."

Ziva rose her eyebrows, "Two phones, two women." She had seen _that_ before.

Tony nodded sheepishly, "Exactly. I wonder what Abby will find."

"If there is anything she will find it," Ziva paused and looked at the back of her shoulder, "Oh, can you swab me when we get back?"

"I'll swab you any time you want David," Tony replied with a teasing smile.

Ziva rolled her eyes, this was actually literal. "The baby drooled on me. The DNA might be useful. I cannot reach it unless I take off my shirt."

"That would be fine with me," Tony laughed, "Crack the case with drool? Stranger things have happened."

"Regardless, I want it off of me," Ziva replied, she did not want to spend the rest of the day with drool on her but if it could be useful it needed to be dealt with properly.

Tony glanced at the clock on the dash, "I hope we get to go home in good time tonight."

"When is the next time you will meet with Curly?" Ziva asked. He looked tiered, too many late nights and early mornings.

"Tomorrow evening, we're meeting at some dive to make it look like I'm hiring him for a job. I suppose I am," Tony replied.

"Will you get a chance to talk to Vance before that?" Ziva inquired, Curly's training needed to start as soon as possible.

Tony nodded, "I'll try to meet with him tomorrow morning. I hope he goes for it."

"A plan might help," Ziva replied.

"Right," Tony nodded some more, "So I need to teach him how to do surveillance, take photos, not compromise evidence that sort of thing."

"He will need a camera then," Ziva reminded him. Contacts need equipment, that is if they could be trusted with equipment.

"I could get him a phone with one," Tony replied and thought for a few moments, "I can get one from the Gibbs stash!" Tony concluded with a large grin.

Ziva smiled, that would be cost effective.

"How to follow someone might also be helpful. It's not like I can follow the agents I'm investigating!" Tony said still smiling.

"They are trained agents, they might notice," Ziva reminded him. He had no respect for coworkers' privacy or apparently observation skills.

"So he'll have to get good," Tony replied with a shrug and started to laugh, "We can get him to follow McGoo for practice!"

"He is more observant than that," Ziva said rolling her eyes.

"Wanna bet on it?" Tony asked a cheeky grin now on his face.

"How much?" Ziva asked raising an eyebrow. McGee was far more competent than Tony gave him credit for.

"Lunches for a week," Tony replied.

"Alright, once you have trained Curly, he will follow McGee for... three days. If McGee catches Curly or mentions being followed, you will buy me lunches for a week," Ziva suggested.

"And if McOblivious says nothing, you owe me. Deal?" Tony asked with a grin as he pulled into the parking lot of the NCIS building.

Ziva grinned back, "Deal." Tony will have to train Curly well if he is to be useful and there is nothing wrong with a little incentive. If McGee catches Curly then he should not be following more dangerous targets.

Tony parked and they shook hands on their bet. Tony got out of the car and headed to the entrance.

"Hey swab me!" Ziva shouted at him from the back of the car as she got out her crime scene kit.

Tony turned back, "Aye, aye Captain!"

oOoOo

They dropped the cell phone and drool off to Abby who was intrigued by the extra cell phone and excited about the drool. Upstairs, they exchanged updates with Gibbs and McGee who had found threatening emails form Mackenzie's brother in law, Milton and was being brought in.

While waiting for Milton, Tony and Ziva continued the background searches they had started before going to interview the wife and also started looking into the numbers and names Abby pulled from the first cell phone. McGee went to the lab to help Abby with the evidence or McOgle her as Tony put it.

oOoOo

Once Milton was brought in it was getting late and they headed to interrogation. After staring at Milton through the glass for several minutes, Gibbs went in leaving Tony and Ziva on the other side of the glass.

"Milton does not look too dangerous," Ziva said watching Milton who was a small man.

"No, but he's got balls, look at him staring down Gibbs," Tony said as Milton and Gibbs sized each other up.

"True," Ziva replied, still watching Milton closely.

Tony's phone buzzed, he opened it, read the screen, closed it with a sigh. This brought Ziva out of her contemplation of the suspect.

She turned to him and asked, "What's wrong?"

Tony scratched the back of his head and replied, "EJ wants to go out and we're not getting out of here any time soon." He paused for a moment to look at Ziva's face, "It's like now that she doesn't have any cases she's forgotten how much time they take."

Ziva nodded, Tony had been putting in more hours than usual lately.

"She's getting irritated about it," he concluded. EJ had not been read in and did not know where her boyfriend was going.

"She does not seem like the clingy type," Ziva said with a sympathetic frown. Of course EJ was not clingy she was suspicious, they both knew that. A suspicious nature comes with the job... unless you're McGee.

"I just hate disappointing her," he replied sadly, looking down. After everything he had been through, he hated lying to someone he cared about.

Ziva lifted his chin making him look at her, "It cannot be helped. Just make sure she knows you are alright." If EJ really cared about Tony, that was the important part. When it's all over, they can talk about it. For now, Tony needed to do his job.

"Thank you," Tony said, he had not told his girlfriend but he was glad he told his partner.

"You are not the only person who wants this case to end. I have dealt with far too many hysterical women today," Ziva said as they turned back to watch Gibbs question Milton.

There was a knock at the open door. Tony and Ziva turned to find a nervous probationary agent from another team.

"Umm, there's someone here to talk to you about your –uh- case," the junior agent sputtered out.

"Thanks," Tony said with a big smile.

Seeing that Tony was planning on tormenting the young agent, Ziva flashed him a glare and followed the probationary agent out.

He took Ziva to the conference room where she found a troubled looking red headed woman.

"I am Special Agent David, how can I help you?" Ziva asked as she sat down.

"My boyfriend Travis Mackenzie is missing!" the woman exclaimed.

"I'll be back in a moment," Ziva said with as straight a face as possible. Tony could interview this one.

**AN: Ever had the characters do things that you had not planned on? That's totally what happened to me in this chapter. But I managed to get them back on track... I think. Anyways, thanks for reading :) **

**Thoughts, comments and questions are appreciated, as long as you don't tell me I suck... I have supervisors for that :P**

**Oh- One more thing, I think it might be a good idea for me to get a beta reader. I'm not really sure about the process but anyone interested? **


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